GREAT performance from Dylan & his trio (core of what would become the The Rolling Thunder tour band).. They were the last act this day.. the filming was running late & they didn’t get to play before 2 am. Still there is fire in Dylan’s eyes.. and he drives his band through the songs.

Band:

Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)

Scarlet Rivera (violin)

Rob Stoner (bass)

Howie Wyeth (drums)

Dylan gives an excellent performance, and is surprisingly unselfconscious about the camera – he looks uncomfortable at the start of each song.. but it is a functional discomfort, which evolves into a purposeful seriousness, clearly a surface expression of his concentration, his intensity, his intent.
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, Vol 2: The Middle Years 1974-1986)

Setlist:

Hurricane

Oh, Sister

Simple Twist Of Fate

Dylan, accompanied by Scarlet Rivera, Rob Stoner, and Howie Wyeth, performs three songs at WTTW-TV studios in Chicago for “The World of John Hammond,” a one-hour tribute to John Hammond, Sr. “Hurricane” is performed twice, the broadcast version being an edit of the pair. The other songs are “Oh Sister,” receiving its first public performance and dedicated to “someone watching tonight,” and a rewritten version of “Simple Twist of Fate,” concentrating more on the narrative and clearly influenced by his collaborations with Jacques Levy.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)

This performance, and the 1984 Letterman show with The Plugz, are Bob’s best TV appearances ever, in my opinion. It is probably no coincidence that both shows are with very basic, stripped down bands. I wish he would do that more often.